UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 1989

Summary

CRC provides comprehensive rights for children including protection from military recruitment (Optional Protocol on Children in Armed Conflict). Particularly relevant to documented LTTE use of child soldiers and to the treatment of children in post-war detention and rehabilitation camps. The Committee on the Rights of the Child monitors implementation.

Relevance to the diaspora

Tamil diaspora documentation of LTTE child soldier recruitment and of post-war detention of Tamil youth under the PTA informs CRC Committee review of Sri Lanka; diaspora advocacy ensures these issues are raised in periodic reviews; child survivors now in diaspora communities can also invoke CRC-based protections in host countries.

Key provisions

• Art. 38 — protection of children in armed conflict
• Art. 37 — prohibition of torture and arbitrary detention of children
• Optional Protocol on Children in Armed Conflict — minimum age 18 for direct participation
• Art. 30 — rights of minority children

Primary source

Related entries

• → Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 1998 (ICC)
• → Report of the UN Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka 2011 (UN)
• → ICCPR Article 27 — Rights of Minorities (UN)